BP's PR Blunders Mirror Exxon's, Appear Destined for Record Book

There have been accusations that BP underplayed the amount of oil that has been spilled, with initial estimates saying that 1,000 to 5,000 barrels a day were flowing out. There are now some estimates that it could be as high as 100,000 barrels per day.

BP's Gowers said that the 1,000 and 5,000 barrel numbers "were not BP estimates" but rather came from the incident's Unified Command, which included BP but also the U.S. Coast Guard and government agencies. The current estimates are not BP numbers, he said.

"If an estimate starts out at one level and turns out being higher, that is not a good thing," Gowers added.

Journalists also have charged that BP blocked access to the site. Gowers said that is not accurate.

"We've had to balance in this allowing access and not allowing intense journalistic interest to interfere with the cleanup efforts," Gowers said.

BP yesterday sent a letter to Unified Command incident commanders clarifying that people are free to talk to reporters if they wish.

"BP has not and will not prevent anyone working in the cleanup operation from sharing his or her own experiences and opinions," wrote BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles. "However, while individuals should feel free to speak openly on their own behalf, they are not authorized to speak on behalf of BP or the Unified Command."

Top executives

The CEO of Exxon in 1989 and BP now became public relations liabilities, communications experts said.

Exxon CEO Rawl in 1989 decided not to go to the Valdez spill site, which likely compounded the company's image problems, said Fearn-Banks.

"A lot of people think if the CEO had come to Valdez and cried when he saw the birds, that would have changed everything for Exxon for years," Fearn-Banks said.

Hayward has made a number of gaffes, including the remark about the size of the Gulf and lamenting to the "Today" show on May 31 that, "there's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." He later apologized for that comment.

Hayward might not have too many positive options, Fearn-Banks said.

"As long as the oil is there, as long as it's still gushing, I don't think there's anything he can say that's really going to make people feel good," Fearn-Banks said.

BP has run ads in which Hayward apologizes for the spill and promises, "we will get it done. We will make this right." But even that falls flat, Seeger said.

"It creates the impression that the company is disingenuous," Seeger said. "It creates the perception that the company is more concerned about its image than the cleanup."

Technical mistakes

BP struggled as it was unable to stop the spill and days stretched into weeks and now nearly two months. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and President Obama demanded answers, with Obama on Monday saying that he wanted to "know whose ass to kick" over the disaster.

"The company has been overwhelmed and all of the blunders they have made has made it difficult for them to come up with a public relations strategy," Seeger said.

The drumbeat of failures as the company tried repeatedly to cap the spill drowned out its public relations message, he said.

"I don't know how anyone could create an effective message given the stream of technical failures that we've seen."

Meanwhile BP failed to answer obvious questions "in a compelling manner," Sellnow said, such as, "If you can't plug the hole, then really what are you going to do that I can have confidence in?"

The inability to stop the leak for so long "has really conditioned the atmosphere in which this is unfolding," Gowers said. "It's just been a very unfortunate saga and frustrating for everyone involved, including us."

While BP has struggled with stopping the leak, Exxon's initial woes came over cleanup. That petroleum company belonged to a consortium responsible for removing the oil. But Exxon and that consortium argued for days about how the petroleum would be removed. Meanwhile it spread, killing wildlife, Fearn-Banks said. BP was part of that consortium in 1989.

In this spill, BP "whether intentionally or not, they over-reassured the public that they could plug the well," Sellnow said. "They failed to acknowledge the uncertainty of the situation."